Improvement in rice-cleaners



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Patented July 21,' 1863.

MWF/ V708 Rice Cleaner.

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of the plates.

' headed steel tacks. These pins are arranged UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E. ROWAN, OF BROOKLYN, NEV YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN RICE-CLEANERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No.y 39,309, dated July 21, 1863.

To @ZZ whom it may concern.'

Beit known that I, CHARLES E. Ro WAN, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented, made, and applied to use a certain new and useful Improvement in RiceOleaning Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of my said invention, reference being had to the annexed drawings, making part of this specification, wherein- Figure 1 is an elevation of my machine. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the same, and Fig. 3 is a sectional plan at the line .r of Fig. 2.

Similar marks of reference denote the same arts.

'lhe nature of my said invention consists in a cleaning-cylinder armed with pins projecting through a metallic plate, acting upon the rice within a case, the upper part of which case is similarly armed with pins projecting inward through a perforated metallic plate, and the lower part of said case is provided with a ne screen, through which a portion of the douse is passed off, and from this cleaningcylinder the rice passes to a polisher on the same shaft as the said cylinder, which polisher is composed of rubbers that in their revolution press the rice outward against wire screens alternated with grindstone-sections. The one serves to smooth the surface of the grains of rice as rubbed against it, while the other allows the escape of the fine particles of douseV and refuse matter, and from this the rice passes away and is winnowed by a fan at the base of the said vertical shaft.

In the drawings, a is a frame-work of any suitable character. bis a vertical shaft sustained in a and rotated by the pulley c. d is a cylinder armed with projecting pins 1 l. These pins are formed with heads, and project through the perforated metallic casing e. f is a cylinder surrounding d, lined with the perforated metallic case g, through which the pins 2 2 project. The pins 1 a-nd 2, being provided with heads and entered from the back of the respective metallic plates, are easily secured by the act of attaching such plates, and in case of accident to the pins theycan easily be replaced by the removal I prefer that these pins be in alternate rows on the cylinder and casing respectively, and the operation of these pins is that as they are revolved with rapidity the rice in the space between the cylinder and case is exposed to the scraping operation of the tacks or pins 1 1 as they revolve and to the action of the pins'2 2 as the said rice itself is moved along. These operations keep the rice light and loosely, and remove the douse in the most perfect manner without injury to the grains of rice and Without the same becoming heated. The distance between the respective pins when nearest togethcr must be rather more than the length of the longest grain of rice, so that there is no opportunity for any of the grains to be caught between the revolving and stationary pins and broken. The rice in the lower portion of the cleaner contiguous to the screen It is to a considerable. extent freed from the douse by that passing through said screen /L and being taken to any convenient receptacle to form feed, as now usual. The rice is supplied through the hopper t', above the cleaner, and passes off through the opening 7c in a regulated stream, according to the position of the graduated slide Z, and enters the polisher. This polisher m is on the shaft b, and is provided with iiexible rubbers n, of leather or other materials, such as have heretofore been employed.

o is a frame-work surrounding the polisher andcarrying a wire cloth, forming a screen against which the rice is rubbed by n and partially polished and the fine particles of refuse matter passed away; and pp are stones with parallel sides set into openings in 0 and retained by screws 3, or their equivalents. The inner faces of these stones are to correspond with the cylinder of wire-gauze on o, so that the rubbers in their revolution may bring the rice in contact with these stones to thoroughly polish the same. These stones p p can be constantly set up to place as they wear away, and when too thin to remain in place may be attached to a block of wood or other material and moved up until worn out. From the polisher the rice t'alls away unobstructedly by an opening, q, upon a chute, r, up which a current of air passes from the blower s on the shaft b, and winnows the rice of the remaining douse and foreign substances.

The perforated metallic plates e and g, re-

eiving the headed pins l and 2, maybe made 1 any desired number of sections, as may be )und most convenien t.

The operation of the machine as a Whole 'ill be apparent. The rice should be fed freely the cleaner so as to ll the same, and by Je slide l it is to be let off more or less raplly to the polisher, according' to the time reuired by the particular quantity of rice for the leaning operation to be perfectly performed.

The red marks, Fig. 2, illustrate the position t' the rice.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letrs Patent, is-

l. The screen h, applied around the base of 1e cylinder Z and below the case f, for the urposes stt forth, in combination with the ins projecting from the cylinder d, that agi- Witnesses:

LEMUEL W. SERREL, CHAs. H. SMITH.

CHAS. E. ROWAN. 

